Circumstances
by Mystic Piss
Summary: Reverse Pines AU; Cornering an animal often leads to a nasty bite. This isn't something a lot of children understand until they've experienced it firsthand. Unfortunately, some kids just don't learn. The story of how the sweet littlle Pines Twins became the sinister Mystery Twins. Warning for violence and death.
1. Pain in Piedmont

**Situation:** Reverse Pines, my version. Age; 9 and 10. Prequel to "Introducing, The Mystery Twins" (and most of my Reverse Pines stories, actually.)  
See: Gravity Falls AU and Crossover Extravaganza, to see more in this universe.

 **NOTES:** How the twins became the twisted little bastards they are in Reverse Pines.  
The second part will be posted soon enough. Gotta hook you guys _somehow_.

* * *

 **Pain in Piedmont**

* * *

The hurt, the bullying, it was constant.  
It went from words to shoving; one twin to the other, but it all started with that stupid birthmark.

Piedmont had been their home since they were born, and at some point between elementary and middle school, Dipper's birthmark had gone from fascinating to painful. It started off with simple teasing, then progressed to hateful words spurned from jealousy at the boy's intelligence, then it started on his sister, and soon after, it became violent. Shoved in his locker, black eyes, Mabel jumped into a couple fistfights because the bullies refused to hit a girl, but that didn't last long.  
The two became isolated from the rest of the children, outcasts; and the taunting was no longer the birthmark, it was _them_ , their personalities, their quirks, their bond between each other, the assaults began to tear the two apart.

They became spiteful as they started to hate their peers. Those that stayed quiet were as bad as the bullies, even the few friends they had began to distance themselves once their association with the twins put themselves at risk. They had each other, and that's all that mattered. The teachers never interfered, their parents were powerless to stop it, but they could protect each other. They didn't have anybody else.  
It quickly escalated to the two of them being on guard at all times, ignoring anything verbal and getting from point A to point B as fast as they could. It didn't always work, but it helped that they were in the same classes and always together. While one grabbed their books, the other kept a lookout. While one scouted lunch seats, the other retrieved their now packed lunches. They wanted nothing to do with other people. They refused to work in groups with anyone else. Dipper began to hide his birthmark under his hair.

But it wasn't until they were walking home one day, that their parents received a call into the office for the first time to discuss how the two, "Didn't play well with the other children".

It was the first time they really started fighting back.

One of the most prominent jackasses, Rudy, from a grade above theirs had begun to chase them with his band of friends as soon as the bell let out, the threats echoing down the streets, milder than what they were usually told due to the public area. Their plan was just to get home, the bullies always left once they reached their house, but this time was different. One of Rudy's friends had gotten a new bike and cut the twins off on the stretch of road, cornering the two between creek and busy road.

With no other alternative, the two jumped the guard rail, sliding down the bank of the creek and ran. They'd never been in the woods before, in fact since the bullying started they avoided going outside altogether, but the other options were possibly getting hit by a car, or waiting for Rudy to catch them there in the road, so they took their chances. Tripping over the underbrush and running through what they knew was poison ivy, they followed the creek up until the current began to pick up and then made a sharp turn and started climbing the bank. Their arms and legs were scratched and bleeding from thorns and tree branches, but the threats behind them had gone from mildly upsetting to downright terrifying.

"When I get my hands on you two, you're gonna wish you were dead!"

Both of the twins tripped every so often as they ran and climbed, but the other was quick to pull them up and push them forward. They'd never run so far or so hard in their lives, their house was right down the street, they never needed to. Stopping at a tree, Dipper fell to his knees, his sister doing the same.  
"Do...Do...Do...you think...we lost them..?" Mabel whispered between breaths.  
Dipper shrugged, everything hurt, they just wanted to go home.  
They were answered with the snap of a tree branch and rustling from the direction they came.  
Struggling to push themselves off the ground, they helped each other up and tried to keep going, their knees buckling underneath them.

They didn't make it far.

Their pace had slowed down considerably, but they couldn't stop. They could hear threats and shouts getting louder as they pushed forward.  
Dipper noticed the their path coming to an end, and tried to stop, but Mabel pulled him forward, "We...can't afford...to stop now..." It looked like a small crevice, maybe they could jump it, but the closer they got, the wider it became, until they could see their path end in a wide chasm, the drop at least 6 feet into the water below. A rather large fallen tree their only hope, connecting where they stood with a bank that was definitely too far away to jump, and the water below too strong to climb down and cross. The little winding creek they had started to follow had turned into a raging river with a current that neither twin could survive if they fell in.

Before they could look away and search for another way across or away from the cliff, Rudy and his gang had surrounded them.  
"Well, well *pant* well...Finally got you losers." One of his friends spoke up. "What are you gonna do to them Rudy?"

"I haven't decided yet, but it'll be sure to hurt." He paused with a sadistic grin as the group stepped closer, "Way worse than any other beating for making us work for it."

Eyeing their options, the twins backed up, inching their way towards the tree, and hoping their assailants didn't notice. Unfortunately, one of them had. The one with the bike, closest to them on their right, had reached out and grabbed Mabel's arm. Mabel yelled and tried to pull away but she wasn't strong enough and everything hurt from the run there, "I got one!"

"Heheh, what you gonna do no-"

Everything else seemed to happen in a blur. Dipper grabbed his sister from the guy clutching her arm and kicked him as hard as he could to get him to let go. It worked, the boy lost his grip on Mabel's arm, but being so close to the edge of the cliff he hardly had any time to process what was happening and had nothing to grab onto.  
The boy fell backwards with a scream, his friends frozen in fear.  
The twins took the opportunity to run, making their way over the fallen tree thinking only of getting out of the immediate danger they were in, neither one had any idea they might've just pushed a boy to his death, just that they had a chance to get away.

Rudy's friends ran to the cliffside to look for the boy, but there was no evidence he was ever there. Rudy stopped momentarily to look over the cliff before following the twins across the tree.  
Dipper turned to run again, pulling Mabel's sleeve but she didn't budge. "He'll just catch us...again if we run...we...have to make a stand...here."

Dipper turned to his sister, processing her words and came to the same conclusion Mabel had, for the first time since they'd gotten into the forest, they had an advantage. They couldn't worry about what happened to Rudy's group, they had to worry about themselves. They were too tired and hurt to keep going at the pace they had been, which wasn't very fast at all. If Rudy made it over that tree he'd catch up to them in no time, and probably throw them into the water after his friend. They couldn't let him make it across, the moment he did they'd be goners.

So when Rudy came over the roots of the tree grabbing for Dipper's shirt, they both ran at him, slamming him hard in the chest, and pushed him over the cliff too.

When they made it home that night, Dipper and Mabel went straight to their room and tried to convince themselves they would be fine, despite knowing of course, that was impossible. They had pushed two boys at least 6 feet into a raging river, there was no way they'd both be okay.  
"We killed them."  
"We didn't kill them."  
"We killed them, Mabel, nobody could survive something like that, not even an adult."  
"You don't know that, you read too many mystery novels. They'll be okay."  
"We don't know what was in that water they could've been skewered on rocks, or eaten by an aligator, or-"  
"Dipper. They're. Not. Dead."  
Dipper looked to his sister with a look of fear and confusion, his anxiety clear on his face.

"How do you know?

The two of them sat in silence, running over the scene again and again in their heads. Neither of them spoke for hours, but it was Mabel who broke the silence.  
"We...we killed them..."  
Dipper sighed, "We killed them."  
"We killed people...are we...murderers?"  
"It..it was self-defense..."  
"We _murdered_ in self-defense."  
They sat in thought, unsure of what to say. It was self-defense. It _was_ self-defense. They had no other choice. They were out of options. They didn't have a choice, if the boys hadn't-  
If the boys hadn't...If the boys hadn't lunged at them...If the boys hadn't grabbed at Mabel...If the boys hadn't surrounded them, threatened them...if the boys hadn't chased them to begin with...

"It was self defense, they...they... _deserved_ it."  
"Dipper?"  
"We didn't do anything wrong, if they hadn't chased us down they would've been fine."  
Mabel looked to her brother and thought about his words, what else _were_ they supposed to do in that situation? What else _could_ they have done? "You're right, we _didn't_ do anything wrong. That...that-" If it wasn't them, it would've been-  
"Could've been us?" Dipper finished her sentence.  
Looking her brother in the eye, she nodded. "Yeah."

Silence crept between them as they reasoned with the situation. That could've been them. _They_ could've been the ones dead. They could both be dead right now. Drowning in the river. Pulled downstream into all sorts of rocks and bushes. Gasping for air, if they even survived the fall. And what if only one of them died? They couldn't imagine a life without one another. Rudy would've pushed them over without a doubt, or they'd have jumped to try and get away. No matter how they looked at it, they couldn't have done anything different, they were cornered. It was life or death one way or another. Us or them.

Mabel shook her head with a scoff, "Why should we care, anyway?"  
"Mabel?"  
Her voice hollow, she continued, "They've been attacking us one way or another every day of our lives. Isn't this a good thing?"  
Silence.  
Dipper scuffed his shoe, running over her line of thought in his head. "Think it'll stop?"  
Mabel snorted, "Maybe...maybe not."

The two of them refused to leave their room that night, choosing to turn in early. They slept together as was the norm for a particularly stressful day. They chose Mabel's bed that night, hers was fluffier, more comforting.

"Mabel?"  
"Yeah, brother?"  
"No matter what happens, we'll always have each other, right?"  
"Of course. We were born together, we'll die together." As soon as the words left her lips, she regretted it, "I-I mean, I-"  
Dipper shook his head and hugged his sister, "I got it. Thanks Mabel."

* * *

The next day the Pines were called into the office, they were told of the boy's conditions, Rudy was in critical condition and his friend was still missing. There was no evidence as to whether the boy was dead or alive but judging from Rudy's condition, his chances dwindled every second.

The last two of the friend group had told the adults of the malicious look on Dipper and Mabel's faces they witnessed when they pushed Rudy and were trying to pin the entire thing on the twins, hardly addressing how they got to the creek in the first place. The siblings were terrified and told the truth. It was self defense. They were chased down, it was an accident.

Nobody doubted that the boys had instigated the whole thing, but both the twins and the two uninjured boys were suspended until the investigation was closed.

Days passed, the other boy was found, his body washed ashore. His spine had been severed, likely on the fall down. It was ruled an accident, self-defense on the twin's part, a terrible tragedy. Their suspension was lengthened to a full week due to the traumatizing event, knowing you'd pushed someone to their death.

They hardly left their room the entire week, trying to figure out where they stood on the situation. On one hand they felt guilty, it was an accident, they hadn't meant- hadn't _wanted_ to hurt anybody; but on the _other..._ they were _relieved_. Relieved that Rudy was gone for a few months at best, _relieved_ his friend was dead, it's what they got for hurting them for years. Deep down a part of them was happy, _ecstatic_ that they wouldn't have to see either boy in school, and that made their guilt even worse. They were upset that they were the ones who had killed another human being and seriously fucked up another, but no matter how much they thought or how much they tried to feel sorry for either boy, they couldn't feel anything but relief and a strange mix of satisfaction.

It didn't seem to take long for them to recover from it, they acted the same as they always had. Refusing to talk to anybody but each other, they didn't need to. Things went back to normal for the most part. A few months passed and the bullying started up again, but this time the twins didn't put up with it.  
It started with a shove, then a punch, soon the twins were either in detention or the nurse's office every week for fighting back against their attackers, but the bullies dwindled. The rumor that they had pushed two boys to their deaths on purpose and their more aggressive behaviors scared away most of them, others stopped because it wasn't worth the black eye from a kid who'd fight back.

Rudy was out of school for the remainder of the year.

When school let out, the twins were shipped off for their first summer in Gravity Falls, in the hopes of getting them far from the bullying and put the terrible memories behind them. They didn't care about the people they met, or their Uncle's Auto business, and hardly spoke to anyone besides themselves, employing the same tactics they used at home in the small town. It wasn't long before their Uncle noticed and sat them down in an attempt to get them to speak with no avail. Day after day after day, the most he got was a few words from either child. Stan was persistent though, he didn't get where he was from giving up, he knew what it was like to be at the losing end of the world and his nephew had informed him about the events that sent them to his home.  
One day he instructed them to chop firewood until they were sore. When they trudged back into the house with a sour expression on their faces, he asked if they wanted to learn to fight properly and told them that he knew how it felt to be bullied.

It was more than they got from anyone back home.

They bonded with their Uncle, someone who understood, someone who had been there and offered a way out, and told them, "That no matter what you protect each other. You learn to fight as individuals and as a team, to hold your own and keep each other safe. There's no worse feeling than losing a sibling."  
He understood them, and taught them how to survive in the world, how to act nice and keep people at a distance.  
The more they learned and spent time with Stan, the more they opened up, the more they smiled again, the more their personalities shone through. When they weren't helping their Grunkle with a con, they were exploring the woods around the car dealership and going on adventures through the little town. Being polite to people, but never trusting them.

For the first time in years, the two of them could be seen smiling.

One of their woodland excursions led them farther than they'd ever gone before, to a place called the Mystery Shack.

They went in and looked around, weird little gimmicks here and there, owned by a stoutly man with a big grin, a little kid around their age sat in a corner, but neither paid him any mind, instead looking around at the 'supernatural' wonders in awe. Dipper picked up two funny looking stones off a shelf, they were cut smooth and an aqua blue, a color they both liked. One for him and one for his sister, he reasoned, taking the stones to the register and cashing them both out. Neither paying much attention to the conversation with the store owner or the kid, but being sure to plaster a smile on their faces before leaving out the back. The gems were known as Aquamarine. The little cards that came with them said they were a stone of empowerment, inspiring truth, trust, and letting go. Something the twins thought very fitting for themselves.

They kept the little Aquamarine stones on them wherever they went, Mabel adorning them with a little piece of metal and glue to turn them into amulets that they could wear. They became more confident as the summer went on, calmer, forgetting about the bullying since it wasn't important anymore. It hadn't been since they taught themselves to fight, and thanks to Stan they really knew how to hold their own. They kept exploring the woods, going further and further than the last time, hoping to see as much as they could before the summer came to an end and they had to face the world they'd left behind.

It was a week before school started, two days after their 10th birthday, that they found it. The twins had been walking as usual, not really paying attention, just following a trodden path behind Stan's Auto-Mart and kicking any rocks along their way between the two of them and into the grass. One of the rocks Mabel had kicked especially hard and it found it's way to a small grass mound that sounded a metallic clunk, stopping the twins dead in their tracks. Investigating the odd sound, figuring it was another hubcap or something, they tore the grass away and revealed a strange metal dome. Each grabbing a forgotten tool from the scrapyard, the twins pried open one of the metal plates, exposing a tiny compartment before them. Dipper pulled out a journal with a very light coat of dust on it. It was maroon with metallic accents to it, and a 6 fingered hand plastered in the center. They brought it back to Piedmont with them, wishing their Great Uncle a genuine goodbye and thanks, and reading the journal the entire way back.

"Wouldn't it be cool if this stuff was real?" Dipper asked, "I mean, werewolves, vampires, the undead, there's even something in here about power stones."  
"Power Stones? What're those?"  
"Guess it's what it sounds like, stones with power." He cleared his throat and began to read, "As illustrated in journal 1 on the types and rituals of a Powerstone, the powers are created by the orientation of your soul. The three necessary ingredients for a powerstone are, a pure gem of any kind, the light of a Blood Moon, and a strong emotion projected to the stone."  
"Huh." Mabel spoke, "There's a Blood Moon coming up, wanna give it a shot?"  
"Seems kinda stupid, I mean we know it's fake. None of this stuff exists, we were in Gravity Falls for 2 and a half months and didn't see a single weird thing except that hack's shop at the edge of town."  
"Yeah, but we have those Aquamarines from that 'hack's shop', it's worth a shot, right? Besides, I wanna see what my power is! Maybe it's like one of those Zodiac things!"

And so the twins began to explore the woods behind their house in the days leading up to the Blood Moon, and they found a clearing that let the moonlight shine down directly onto the stones. When the night of the bloodmoon came, the twins set the stones in the moonlight and tried to think of a strong emotion but couldn't come up with much, so they tried to think about their desire to protect each other while they held the rocks. At the end of it all, nothing happened. "Does the book say anything else, Dipper?"  
"Yeah, just this weird stuff in Latin. 'Per istam virtutem lapidis virtus fortitudo mea amplificandum'"*  
The twins looked around and at the stones which had done nothing, "Guess it was just a fairytale after all, huh?"  
"Yeah, but you were right, it _was_ kinda fun haha."  
Pulling out her camera, Mabel took a snapshot of the two of them holding their gems with the moon behind them, "A _good_ memory for the scrapbook, amirite?"  
As Dipper rubbed his eyes from the flash, he snorted, "Since when do you scrapbook?"  
She shrugged, "I was thinking of starting one, afterall, the summer with Grunkle Stan was pretty fun and things are starting to look up for us." She sighed, "You don't think it's a waste of time, do you?"  
Taking the hat he'd chosen to wear that night and squishing it onto Mabel's head as she fought to keep it off, he laughed, letting the hat drop to the ground. "Nah, I think it's a pretty cool idea. Then we have something to look forward to when we have bad days."  
She fixed her hair with a brace-filled grin, "Well in that case..." Taking a small handful of loose dirt, she threw it lightly in Dipper's face, causing him to sputter and shout, which gave her the perfect opportunity to take a photo "SNAP!"  
"Mabel! Don't you dare put that in there!"

When the new school year started, there was surprisingly no bullying at all. Rudy and his friends steered clear of the twins, the other bullies hardly bothered them and the twins had even begun to speak up a little in class like their Great Uncle taught them. _"Build rapport with people, even if you don't like them. It might seem like a waste of time, but it can open all sorts of doors for you."_  
They were fine for weeks, actually enjoying school, even going so far as talking to one or two other students from time to time, but for the most part keeping to themselves. Months went by without an incident, until Rudy and his friends confronted the twins in an alley in town.

"How can you act like nothing happened? Like you didn't kill my best friend? Like you didn't almost kill me!"  
"I saw your faces, you weren't scared when you pushed Rudy."  
"I bet you pushed them both on purpose!"  
"You'll pay for what you did!"

The twins were cornered again, no miraculous way out this time, nowhere to turn to, so they put their fists up to fight, determination flaring. They had to protect each other. They were _going_ to protect each other, and they weren't gonna let some asshole who'd tormented them for years keep harassing them. Their Grunkle taught them to fight properly, to dodge, to work together in close combat. They might've been outnumbered, but they had a better chance than ever before.

In almost eerie unison, the twins growled, "Stay away from us."

"Yeah? Or what?"  
"Get em!"

Neither one of the twins had noticed their amulets begin to glow, didn't even remember they had them on them, hidden away in one pocket or another. With each blow taken, their resolve to protect each other grew stronger, and so did the light of the amulets until the twins themselves were glowing an eerie blue. They were losing, 4 against 2, taking blow after blow after blow. There were just too many punches to block or evade, but they managed to knock one kid down with a well timed punch from both of them straight to the sternum. He fell to the ground gasping for air, the wind knocked out of him.  
Enraged, one of them drew a knife.

And everything went to hell.

He struck Dipper across the face with the knife, and Mabel immediately struck him in the face with her fist, an electrical charge building in the air as she swung, and the entire group stared in shock as the boy appeared to get electrocuted right before their eyes. The two left standing backed away out of instinct.

Dipper looked up to see his sister glowing, shocked but still on guard, this was no time to get distracted. Picking himself off the ground and wiping the line of blood off his cheek, he matched his sister's stance, ready to punch the next person who tried to attack them. The younger of the two charged forward quickly, swinging at Mabel for punching his brother and Dipper swung the next punch, not even making contact, but the boy flew backwards as if he had, his face already turning a sickly purple.

As the twins poised themselves to continue the fight, the three conscious boys had started to notice the blue glow of Dipper and Mabel, and more noticeably, their eyes. Filled with so much hate and determination. Rudy and his unharmed ally immediately ran away, leaving their two injured friends lying on the ground. The boy with the angry bruise on his face threw his hands up and surrendered, running to his brother to drag him to safety. And the twins just stood there in shock watching the scene before them, the group clearly terrified. When they were all out of sight, they looked at one another and gasped. Their hair was swirling and they were glowing bright blue, their eyes having faded with their anger.

When they returned home, they bandaged Dipper's cheek and checked out whatever new cuts and bruises they'd gotten and tried to figure out what _that_ was. They threw out suggestions but they all sounded like straight up bullshit cartoon origin stories.  
"I don't get it." Dipper cringed, the antiseptic stinging on his arm where he fell, his skin scraped off slightly. "Glowing blue? And did you see that punch you threw? I could practically _feel_ electricity coming off of that."  
"Well if it's not some strange sort of superpower, I don't know what it was because _something_ obviously scared them off and I doubt it was just us," Pulling her leg up onto the edge of the tub, Mabel started to pick bits of stone and pavement out of her knee, "And what about the punch _you_ threw? You hit that kid so hard his face turned purple. There's no way _you_ could punch him that hard."  
"Is that a jab at me being weak?" Dipper joked, fully aware that bruises don't form visibly for days and for one to turn that quickly was unheard of.  
"Of course, you have less muscle than _I_ do," She stuck her tongue out at him as he shook his head with a small smile, "Can you hand me the antiseptic? I think I got em all."  
"Sure."  
As Mabel reached for the antibiotic her brother was holding out to her, they heard a clunk and a quiet scratching sound as an Aquamarine fell from her skirt into the bathtub.  
The idea hit the both of them at the same time as they started at the rock in the bathtub, "No way..."  
"It worked?!"  
"It couldn't be, that book was filled with nonsense!"  
"It _had_ to be, what _else_ could it have been, Dipper?"  
"But why didn't they work before?"  
Grabbing her Aquamarine out of the tub, Mabel got up and tore out of the bathroom.  
"Huh? Wha- Mabel!" Her brother yelled, grabbing the antiseptic from where she'd dropped it and running after her with the bandages, "Mabel it can wait until after you disinfect your knee!"

They spent the rest of the night googling Power Stones and searching the book for clues. They had no idea how these things worked, and worse yet, they were dangerous. What if they went off while they were just sitting there and they hurt somebody?  
Hours of searching and they found nothing.

"3! 3! Everything on what they can do is in Journal 3! Where _is_ journal 3?!" Dipper shouted in frustration, "Who writes a book like this?!"  
"AUGH I don't knoooow, all the online sources talk about are weird spells which I'm sure don't actually do anything since the results are supposed to be like, 'a good thing will happen to you in the next month if you wish upon this rock while this constellation is the 4th...quadrant? Of the...lunar...cycle?'" She groaned, "I might've adlibbed a bit there."  
"Okay. Oh-kay. Deep breaths here, Dipper. In..out..in..out..." He sighed and got off the bed, pulling an old corkboard out of the closet and turning it around so the chore chart was no longer visible. "We don't know what we don't know, but _do_ we know what we don't know?"  
"Say what now?"  
Dipper ignored her question and grabbed a pen and a pad of sticky notes off the floor, Mabel staring at him confused all the while.  
"I'm sorry bro-bro, what was that? You're doing that nerd speak thing again."  
Turning around, he began to pace back and forth, writing words on the sticky notes all the while. "Well," he began. "If we can't figure out what we don't know, we can document _what_ we don't know and why. Because if we _know_ that we don't know things, then we know _something_."  
"We just...don't know what it is...we know?" He nodded, starting to place the sticky notes on the corkboard, "Okay but how does this help us?"  
He stopped for a moment, before continuing to place the sticky notes on the board, "I...don't know..."  
"But now we _know_ you don't know. Gotta add it to the board, brotato."

With a roll of his eyes he added, 'We don't know how this will help' to the corkboard.

Concentrating hard on the board, Dipper spent the next hour rearranging the sticky notes in the hopes that something would stand out. This is how they did it in detective shows, right? Its gotta be useful somehow. Mabel on the otherhand was trying out magic words to see if any of them made a command.  
"Abra Cadabra!" Pause. "Hocus Pocus!" Pause. "Open Sesame!"  
"Mabel, you're not opening anything."  
"That you know of, _we_ don't know what this baby is capable of!"  
She gasped, causing Dipper to look over to her. "Did you figure something out?!"  
"What if I could fire kittens from my fists with this thing! I'd be all like, POW POW MEOW."  
Dipper sighed and went back to his board while Mabel concentrated on the ceiling fan, imagining a kitten fist smashing it to pieces and the kitten falling to safety with a little parachute, "Abraca-Sesame!"  
Neither of them expected the fan blade to shatter with a sickening crack and the lights to flicker, they both jumped at the sudden noise as the lights settled with the uncomfortable sound of an electrical surge.  
Without taking his eyes off the fan, Dipper mumbled, "Mabel...what...did you do?"  
Also staring at the ceiling fan, Mabel muttered back, "Dunno...just...imagined..."  
They both looked at each other and ran out of their room, "Imagined what?" Dipper asked, descending the stairs 2 at a time.  
"I don't know, the ceiling blade getting hit by a kitten!" They shouted as they ran through the house, thankful that both their parents worked evenings.  
"Again with the kitten fists?! You certainly didn't hit it with a kitten!" He replied, pushing the back door open.  
"Well thats what I thought about! What do you want me to say? I imagined it shattering from the kitten fist!"  
Skidding to a stop without warning, Mabel ran into her brother, almost knocking them both down before he jumped forward and made a beeline for the garage door, "Help me find some stuff we can practice on. I have an idea!"

The twins collected buckets and bottles and picked some apples from one of the trees in the backyard, lining them up as test dummies. They spent the remaining hours before their parents returned figuring out how to summon their powers, before returning to their room and practicing them more quietly. After a few days they had a vague sense of understanding how they worked. They were called in for the second meeting with the Principal about a fight and a boy who was struck by lightning, and again it was ruled an accident, as the twins were in worse shape than the boys who assaulted them minus one with inexplicable injuries.

Over the next few weeks, they began to practice daily, noticing that Mabel's stone seemed to give her more of an electrical ability, while Dipper's seemed to be straight up telekinesis.

The group of boys had been suspended for two weeks that time, but when they returned they noticed something had changed, though they weren't quite sure what.  
The first thing they noticed though, was that the Twins were no longer afraid of them. They hadn't been for a while, but not like this, there was something strange about it. There was something, _m_ _alicious_ , almost about how they looked at them, though nobody else seemed to see it.  
The youngest and his brother, who were hurt the most during their last encounter refused to have anything to do with them, keeping their heads low and the twins didn't bother them. They wanted nothing to do with the group as usual, but if Rudy was gonna pick another fight, they'd make sure it was the _last_ one he picked.

* * *

*May the power of my strength amplify the power of this stone  
Get it? His names Rudy cause he's Rude lmao  
Also if it wasn't clear, the twins have journal 2 in their possession.

Anyway, that's part one! This is likely gonna be a three part series! Hope you guys enjoyed!


	2. Welcome To Gravity Falls

**Situation** : They've probably just turned 12 when they got the Gravity Falls. Reverse Pines, lol. If you didn't get from the first chapter this is basically my backstory for how Dipper and Mabel would've become so cruel in the Reverse Pines AU, since we all know Gideon was just a simple little boy until he got ahold of the journal.

 **Notes** : I might change the ages, this seems a little much for a couple of 11 year olds. Skewed moral compass at that age or not. This also wasn't supposed to be as violent as it turned out. Oops.

 **New Notes:** LOOK WHAT I FOUND! WHOOO! I'm sure there will be a 3rd chapter at some point but wowee am I glad to see this. I edited a few things but this is mostly the same as I wrote alongside the 1st chapter back in, wow 1/3/16, Nearly exactly 2 years ago. Third chapter whenever I get to it will be new, I don't have anything really for it from before.

Anyway thanks for hanging in there! Hope your years have been better than mine, and lets get on to the new chapter!

* * *

 **Welcome to Gravity Falls**

* * *

"Think today's the day?" Dipper asked, the two of them heading to the cafeteria with their bagged lunches. Today was liverwurst day. Eugh.

Taking their seats and pulling out their sandwiches, they observed the cafeteria. Nobody but Rudy's group paid them any attention.

"Seems like it, I've seen his friends around more often over the past couple days. If not today, tomorrow."

The two of them had practiced their powers on other students before, but not like this. A moved object here or there, a shock every so often, nothing major. But they were planning on all out war, scaring the boys so badly they'd never bother them again. Using their powers in a _real_ fight.

"Think we can pull it off?"

"I'm sure we can. You worry too much, bro." Taking another bite of her sandwich, she spoke through her food, "Buht whaht," She swallowed, "What if we hurt them? Like _really_ hurt them?"

"Who cares? _They_ certainly intend to. Just like all the other times."

Mabel lowered her voice, "And if we _kill_ one of them?"

Setting the sandwich back on the plate, Dipper considered her words. They were good with their powers but they weren't exactly stellar with them, minor injuries to each other from practice weren't uncommon, and they were aware they weren't in complete control of the amulets. "Then...then we..." He paused briefly to think, quickly brushing off any feelings of uncertainty, "What's done is done, and what happens happens. It's not like it's any different than last time." He took a bite of his sandwich, "Ahnd it's naht lieke they cahn phin anythingh ohn ush if fwe dohn't toush them."

"True." Mabel agreed, "Not like they'd care if they killed one of us, anyway. That one guy tried to last time, if it weren't for the amulets we'd be goners."

They were simply doing what they had to, to keep each other safe. Dipper nodded, "We'll just take it one step at a time, if it comes to that, it comes to that."

By the time Rudy made the decision to corner them behind the school, two days later, he'd found another henchman willing to fight with them bringing the count to 3. Whether the boy was paid off or simply wanted an excuse to fight, the twins weren't sure. However, Dipper and Mabel had enough time to practice that they were in no _real_ danger, if their magic failed, they'd still have put on a decent enough display to either scare them off or finish it the old fashioned fist-to fist way.

The sky was mildly dark when the fight began, a sign of the storm that was yet to fall, the instigators hesitant to get in close after the last encounter. The new guy, on the otherhand, seemed to be blind to the event. _They must not have filled him in_ , Dipper thought as the kid ran at them his fist raised to strike.

Dipper let it hit him and it didn't move him from his spot, it barely left a mark on his cheek. Mabel shouted back to the rest of the group, "This is your last warning. Back _off_."

"Or what?" the new kid shouted stepping back and aiming another punch at Dipper.

"Or _this_." Dipper said, calm as ever. The boys arm began to bend backwards- slowly, his eyes growing more and more scared as he saw that both of Dipper's hands were in his pockets. He heard his bones pop, and he felt an intense pain as his arm twisted "W-what's going on?" His voice shaky and forced, "Rudy? Y-you didn't say anything about w-weird shit!"

Dipper grinned and walked straight past the kid towards Rudy and the only other original member of his crew, pushing the new guy's arm back even farther, making him howl.

Their plan was set if they could freak these guys out enough. Nobody believed them the last time, so of course they wouldn't this time. _The supernatural doesn't exist_ , and if there are no fingerprints or witnesses there is no _proof_. If they terrified them thoroughly enough they wouldn't dare trifle with them again. He who cries wolf one too many times will forever be a _liar_.

"What should we do with these two, sister?" Dipper asked, stopping inches from Rudy's face and glancing to the other boy with his eyes.

He gulped and tried to run, his bravado gone, quickly getting a shock by Mabel who had circled around by the narrow exit, sending the boy flying backwards towards his friend. "I dunno, _brother_. But we should definitely play with them like they have _us_ all these years."

Rudy swallowed whatever moisture was in his mouth and spoke up, "W-why are you doing this?"

"Why did you ever do this to us?" Mabel asked back.

"Why did you ever taunt us?" Dipper continued.

"Beat us?"

"Torture us?"

The two continued to circle their prey, "When did you ever have reason for what you did to us?"

"Was it just because you could?"

"Because _we_ aren't that _petty_."

"We want to do everything you've done to _us_ , to _you_."

Both the captured boys looked to one another, saw the fear in each other's eyes, they knew they'd fucked up this time. But they had to do something.

So when their friend started crying about his arm, and Dipper diverted his attention to him ever so slightly, they both lunged at Mabel.

She cried out, shooting Rudy in the chest and sending him flying backwards, but the other kid got two punches in, one to the face, the other to her ribs causing her to double over in pain.

"Mabel!" Her brother cried out, forgetting about the new guy and grabbing the one who dared to assault his sister and throwing him into the brick wall to their right, earning a sickly crack as he ran to her side and the boy screamed.

"I-I'm okay." She gasped, her face scrunched in pain, blood starting to seep from her nose, "Just gotta… catch my breath… got me good..."

He immediately turned to Rudy who was still sprawled on the ground with a look of pure hatred, " _ **You**_."

Rudy's eyes widened at the weightlessness he felt flow through him before his air supply was cut off. Removing both hands from his pocket he swung them about as he spoke, " _You_ did this. _You_ did _**ALL**_ of this! We gave you a chance to _leave_! _We_ wanted to be left _**alone**_!" Grasping at the invisible force on his throat, he couldn't do anything to pry whatever was choking him away. "I'm sorry, does that _**hurt**_?" Dipper let out a gross laugh, as Mabel started to pick herself up, her breathing evening out and watched the scene before her in both horror and slight awe, listening to the boy in her brother's grasp struggle to breathe, "Oh that's _right_ , you can't exactly _answer_ me right now, _**can you**_?"

His friend with the broken arm watched with tears strolling down his face, too scared to speak up. Certain they were all gonna die there.

"Dipper!" He turned to his sister's call and saw the pointed look in her eyes as she shook her head ever so slightly to tell him to stop.

Relieved his sister was alright, he took a deep breath, loosening his grip on Rudy's throat to let the boy get a breath or two in. He sent a brief apologetic look to his sister and tried to mutter a sorry but suddenly felt a sharp pain in the arm he had outstretched towards their assailant, making his face scrunch in agony, a silver blade sticking out. Before he knew what was happening, Rudy was gone and there was a slight electrical charge in the air.

The boy had been blown back several feet by the blast, skin raw where it hit, a scream never heard, the air knocked out of his lungs, leaving him writhing on the ground incapable of crying out for what seemed like years.

Renewed hatred in the twins had them continuing their charade with more gusto than before, "You guys brought this on yourselves, you know." Dipper growled, telepathically dragging the boy across the pavement, knife still in his arm.

"My brother's right," Mabel spat, emotionless, "You just couldn't leave things well enough alone."

"You had to keep _picking_." Dipper squished his face into the pavement.

"And _attacking_ us." A zap from Mabel, aimed at Rudy's leg.

"And _hurting_ us." Dipper threw him towards the enclosed area they were originally cornered in.

"For the record, we didn't kill your friend on purpose, we were just trying to get away from _you_."

Dipper kicked him in the ribs, rolling him over and taking a good look at the purply-red bars forming around his throat, "We didn't want to hurt any of you, _before_."

"But now the tables have turned and we _can_ hurt all of you."

Dipper and Mabel's frowns deepened, their eyes glowing a bright blue and spoke together in a chilling voice, "All without lifting a finger."

Rudy sputtered and spat, quiet sorrys hardly heard through his sobs.

"It's too late for 'Sorry' you know, the damage is done." As Dipper approached, walking forward ever so slowly as the boy on the pavement attempted to scramble backwards.

Right beside him, his sister snorted, a slight grin forming on her face, "Though I believe a ' _thank you_ ' is in order, right bro?"

Dipper barked an ugly laugh, "You know _you're right_ , because if it weren't for _you_ , we wouldn't be able to do _any of_ _ **this**_." Grasping the amulet in his pocket, Dipper pulled the other two boys beside Rudy, slamming them to the ground in the process. One limp, the other grasping his arm in soiled pants. "We haven't mastered these powers yet, but we're going to. And you don't want to see us when we _**do**_."

Suddenly Mabel stood alert and looked to the right, bumping shoulders with Dipper and causing him to lose his focus on the group who remained immobilized by fear. He looked over to her with worry and shook her shoulder, "Mabel? Mabel, what's wrong?"

Shaking her head and looking somewhat dazed, she just muttered, "We gotta go."

"Mabel?"

"Dipper, let's go. _Now_. I'll explain later, but… I just don't want to be here right now."

With a final glare at the boys from Dipper, they left, pulling into a sprint as they rounded the corner of the building.

The two boys sat there in pain, briefly looking between each other and assessing the damage. Their one friend however, had remained unconscious throughout the battle, since Mabel was struck, and for whatever thoughts could form through their pain the two were slightly thankful for that.

When the twins got home, Mabel started to freak out.

"We went too far."

"Mabel."

"We went _way_ too far, did you _see_ Rudy?"

"Mabel-"

"Oh no oh no they're gonna catch us-"

" _Mabel_!" Dipper shouted, grabbing her shoulders, she looked up to see his face scrunched in worry. "Mabel, what was that back there? Who are you talking about?"

She took a couple breaths and continued, averting her gaze to the floor, "Someone was coming, I-I don't know how but I _know_. We went too far, they're gonna find them like that and call the police! We're-"

" _ **Mabel**_!" He shook her ever so slightly, to get her attention before pulling her into a hug, "Sorry, just...take it slowly, calm down. Lets...let's make some hot chocolate and get cleaned up and talk through this, yeah?" She nodded slightly, and hugged her brother back. "You know?"

Mabel grunted softly to prompt him to continue.

"You freaking out like this, it's usually me." He let out a hollow 'Hah', "Bit out of the ordinary don't you think?"

He didn't get a spoken response, but she exhaled in a silent laugh and he was glad he could at least get a response out of her that wasn't tears or panic. He pulled an arm away from the hug, "Let's go make some hot cocoa, we can get cleaned up while we wait for it and then we can...figure this out." He sighed as they shuffled their way towards the kitchen. "I'm scared too, Mabel."

The police arrived at their house that night asking where the twins were earlier that evening and they told them they went straight home and were there ever since, as usual. Neighbors agreed, the Pines children rarely went anywhere after school and if they did it was their own backyard. When the parents asked why, they were told there was an attack earlier behind the school and two boys were found with broken bones and a third deceased with his neck snapped. The survivors had mentioned the Pines were responsible and did this with 'magic', and assumed the boys were so traumatized they were mixing things up.

The police left soon enough after taking a statement from the Pines and telling them to keep the kids indoors and to pick them up after school until the case has been resolved completely. School was cancelled the next day as a full-scale investigation began, and the twins cowered in their room, their parents finally gone to work, assured by their children that it was okay to go and they'd call if they needed anything.

 _Neck snapped_. _**Deceased**_. They really _had_ gone too far. They certainly hadn't meant to do it, and the police hadn't described Rudy or his friend with the broken arm in any more detail.

The last they remembered dealing with the boy, Mabel had sent him sprawling away from the exit as he tried to run for help. The twins thought back and couldn't figure out when it happened, they'd mostly been dealing with Rudy.

Mabel figured it out first, the last time they paid the kid any mind or heard anything from him was when Mabel was assaulted. The only way they figured it, was Dipper was so concerned and freaked out he must've lost control and just snapped the boy's neck as he was thrown out of the way. There wasn't any other way it could've happened, not by their hands.

The Pines were called into the office three days later, a couple police officers in the room with them. The kids appeared visibly frightened, but no one thought it peculiar in the sense that some of their classmates had been attacked and they were surrounded by authority figures.

Rudy and his friend were there, one spouting boundless allegations to magic powers -of what kind they couldn't elaborate- and choking people without touching them. The other sat there staring but not seeing; his arm in a cast, he was silent, broken.

The twins feigned ignorance and neither the police nor the faculty had any idea what the two boys were talking about. The police revealed that the medical examiner said there were no fingerprints, no fibers, no explanation of the burn marks, though lightning was being investigated as a cause due to the storm that had rolled in. The damage done to Rudy's throat had no means, there was a force applied but they had never seen anything like it, there was no sense of pressure or marks left behind, just an odd bruise. The dead boy was riddled with fractures and clean cut broken bones, as if a force had split him all at once, similar to if he was struck by a car, but without internal bleeding of any kind. It was all inexplicable. Magic seemed to make sense with the bizarre case, but there was nothing described for the magic, one of the boys even admitted that the two had done 'nothing' and then everything hurt. It wasn't like the last fight involving the two groups, where Rudy had claimed the twins had punched and fought back, this time it was simply threats from the offending students and confessions of not knowing what they did. Dipper glared the boy into the wall, walked past one and his arm broke, shouted and burned his leg. Nothing the traumatized victims said made sense enough to be counted against the siblings. The staff vouched for the siblings as well, Rudy and his friends had been known to bully and harass the Pines, but the twins almost always ran. Even the fight they were supposedly in the last time was ruled inconclusive based on the evidence at their disposal. Dipper and Mable rarely smiled, rarely got angry, they just went about their day together and never bothered anyone. After the cliff incident they stopped reporting any bullying to their teachers and had even tried to speak up a little more once their bullies had backed off. A blessing from a horrible accident. They weren't sure what was going on, but the twins had always been victims, and that benefited the siblings more than they'd expected.

The twins also had a solid alibi, no one saw or noticed them walking about, they were seen exiting the school on camera with the injured and dead following close behind, but after that they were home as far as anyone knew. The neighbors were sure they'd seen them that day, like the day before, and the day before that.

Rudy never took his eyes off the twins, sitting there- staring. Dead eyes. Unfocused.

The only connection between the twins and the victims seemed to be the way Rudy and his friends targeted them, and with the siblings' alibi, there was nothing linking them to the crime.

School was cancelled for three months until the area was deemed safe as the investigation dragged on with no leads.

Dipper and Mabel were sent to Oregon again to get away from the stress of it all and keep them safe from whatever strangeness was going on in their hometown, and Stan was _delighted_ to have them. The autoshop he'd purchased from Bud Gleeful was sailing smoother than ever, motivated by the time spent with his great niece and nephew that summer, having been told they hardly spoke to anyone at all. He lost his shot at recovering his brother and thanks to these kids, he was starting to finally move on. When he wasn't working, the trio was together, joking around, enjoying themselves, sometimes even making fun of the people that stopped by the lot to check out the cars. The twins trusted him more than anyone else, even their own parents who did nothing about the bullying whereas Stan not only sympathized with them, but gave them an opportunity to fight back. They tolerated the people he employed, the graffiti artist Wendy, who seemed to detail some of the vehicles from time to time, whether asked to or not, and the mechanic Soos, a man of few words who functioned as the overall handyman. To an extent the two oddballs could be considered friends, but never having had real friends before, the twins still veered more towards their Great Uncle and hardly paid them any mind.

As Stan and the kids bonded even more over the course of the month they were with him, he made it his goal to make the autoshop a place his niece could send the twins to just for a nice visit during the month. He didn't want them to come only during extreme circumstances, as the first and current visit had been. For the first time in the 8 years after giving up the Mystery Shack, which was a shamble of what it had been prior to the explosion, he felt like he had something to fight for again.

When their parents came to pick up the twins, they didn't want to leave. They gave their heartfelt goodbyes to their Uncle, an extra long hug from both, and piled into the backseat, hearing Stan's muffled voice tell their folks 'they're welcome to stay anytime' and another quick thanks from their parents, through the car door.

The next two months were slow compared to the first, the investigation went nowhere and the twins were sentenced to counseling when school came back in session, their record clean as there was no proof to their involvement in the incident. The counseling was separate, which also went nowhere, neither spoke a word without their sibling, just sitting there and observing the people assigned to observe them. Before they knew it they were thrown into a counseling session together, two kids, two counselors; one to observe each twin but ultimately counsel both. They began to speak up little by little, and were asked a menagerie of questions about the ridiculous notion of magic their assailants had been muttering and insisting upon. They were counseled for the bullying they'd received in the past- when the unexplainable unsurprisingly went unexplained. Dipper was told to stop hiding his birthmark, and were both advised to take up a hobby.

Both suggested magic tricks, using the hype and rumors about the group of bullies' insane banter to promote learning more about it. _Dipper's birthmark had always made us think of magic and wonder_ , they said, _and if he wasn't to hide it any longer, doing magic tricks would be the perfect way to make it easier for him to keep it visible again._

 _It was something we'd always wanted to learn, but we were afraid it would only cause more bullying._

The counselors were a little unsure with the timing of the suggestion but allowed it as the twins began to chitter excitedly about making pigeons appear out of shirt sleeves and card tricks they'd been working on. Nothing dangerous, and nothing even close to what was exhibited during the attack.

So their parents bought them a magic kit with all sorts of different illusions. They'd practice in their spare time and then branched out to people at lunch-time who were surprisingly curious, the better they got, the more people wanted to see and they were registered for the yearly talent show by their teacher after having been impressed at some of the tricks. The response they got from the school was catastrophic, everyone loved them, _applauded_ for them. People began to call them The Mystery Twins, and looked forward to their act the following year.

All the praise and excitement however, stumped the twins. Some of their previous bullies had apologized to them, those that isolated them now wanted to hang out with them, they were pushed to the top of the social ladder for taking the school's mind off of the recent inexplicable death as well as their flawless tricks. Everyone loves magic afterall.

Their teachers suddenly had an interest in them, and any time someone would badmouth them in the slightest, the offender would be sent to the halls or detention later that day. The bullying they'd struggled with for so long suddenly was seen by all and ignored by no one. To anybody else, that would've been an amazing privilege, but to the twins-

To the twins it was unforgivable.

"We suffered for _years_ because the teachers refused to say anything, but the second we can take care of ourselves they try to take credit for playing the hero? Bullshit! Where were they when we were getting beaten up? A word or two is nothing but they walk around like they saved our lives!"

"Our classmates too, every one of them has sneered at us at least once, most of them have thrown something at us, but now we're supposed to act like that's all okay because they stopped? The only ones who even bothered to apologize were a couple people who shoved us around in the hallways; like an apology can fix those bruises and cuts we dealt with for weeks!"

The twins paced back and forth around their room, fed up at the situation. They wanted to take up magic so they could continue to practice their skills with the amulets without anyone catching on that it was _real_. That worked all well and good, especially since they didn't use their amulets in most of their tricks, Dipper having reasoned that they should know some 'actual' magic if they were ever suspected of using real magic, but then the attention spiraled out of control. They didn't _want_ to act all goody goody to these people, they didn't _want_ anything to do with them! All they wanted was to perfect their skills with the gems so that if they had to defend themselves, there wouldn't be anymore 'accidents'.

"AUGH Dipper, what do we _do_? The more we try to avoid people the more they hunt us out! Why can't they leave us alone!"

With an aggravated sigh, Dipper threw himself onto the bed, "I don't know, Mabel. Maybe we should just let them be, at least we don't have to worry about Rudy, it's not like _he's_ coming back."

Throwing herself on the bed beside her brother with a grunt, the bed bouncing a bit from the sudden weight, she let out an obnoxious groan, "I don't care about Rudy, Rudy's nothing to us. I'm sick of all these fake people acting like they care." She began kicking her feet which dangled off the edge of the bed, "We know they don't, they never have, but we have to _act_ like they have because if we don't then we come off like assholes and we're gonna be hated again. I don't want to be hated again. I want to be left _alone_."

The two sat there and let out identical cries as they realized that no matter what they did they were at the losing end of the stick.

"Maybe we should call Stan."

"Grunkle Stan?"

"Yeah, he told us we should build rapport, right? Well, what do we do with it now that we have it?"

"And how do we get _rid_ of it."

"Yeah."

"...Yeah, let's call Stan. Good idea, Dipper. If nothing else he'll give us an idea."

Stan's advice was to tough it out until school ended so he could see the damage himself, not quite understanding the problem with the sudden popularity. _You've made it this far, don't give up. You can get whatever you want out of these people, they're eating out of the palm of your hand by the sounds of it. Give it a shot, ask one of them to grab you an ice cream cone or something, I don't know what kids want._

A little unsure about it, they did exactly what their Grunkle instructed. The next day while they were being bothered during lunch, Mabel interrupted one of the kids that was talking to her and asked, "I hate to bother you, but do you think it'd be too much trouble for you to grab me an ice cream? I don't think I'll have enough time to finish eating _and_ wait in line."

And to their surprise, he listened, "Sure, no problem!"

The twins were amazed, after hearing the boy boast that _he'd_ given _Mabel Pines_ an ice cream cone, other people began to gift them small things and aimed to please them just so they could be acknowledged and thanked in a way the Pines never showed anyone. Slips of paper with drawings or notes, cans of soda, a skeleton key, class notes, a handful of buttons, a star chart, their entire lunch meal, money, one kid even gave them a tiny bird skull they found out by the playground. The gifts kept coming, and strangely touched, the twins kept some of them, knowing full well they weren't genuine 'thinking of you' type gifts, but the type of gift that came with fame, the type of gifts that were used to open a silent bargain of acknowledgement so they could boast about it later to their friends.

It didn't take long for the two to amp up their game, getting the swings for all of recess in exchange for a daisy 'magically' pulled from thin air, homework and essays written for them the night before they were due in exchange for a heartfelt thank you and a chance to have a question or two answered about their act, lunch money for Dipper and Mabel to sign their juice box, one kid even offered to do their homework for the rest of the year if he could call them his 'friends', which of course the twins agreed to. Simply saying you were friends did not mean you were, so who cared?

The two were put on a pedestal, and they loved it. Their attitude on the situation changed from hating the attention to loving it as they began to distance themselves in a different manner, once equals they were now above everyone else. These people loved them for doing nothing, loved their act, call them benevolent for giving them the opportunity to do something for them. Roughly 40 or so children, which grew gradually over the rest of the school year, gave them gifts and offered to do things for them, and all they had to do was turn up and show off a new trick every once in awhile. They passed their classes with A+s for doing nothing but showing up to class, and their ability to con and manipulate only grew from the experiences, growing from the one or two tips they learned from their Great Uncle, to something Stan would be proud of.

When summer came, the twins were reluctant to go; their 'friends' and acquaintances giving them a hug or their number in the hopes they'd see the twins soon, and the two assured them they would _most definitely_ call seeing as they had such a _great_ time this year.

With no intention of calling, the duo dropped the numbers in the trash as they did with the more useless of their gifts and took to the couch in their living room, not scheduled to leave for Oregon for another week.

"So what now?" Dipper asked

"I dunno, brainiac, you're the smart one." Mabel responded with a giggle

"Oh hardy har har."

Flipping on the tv, they surfed the channels for hours, not finding anything of interest and soon ignoring it altogether in favor of flipping through the journal that had brought them their good fortune.

"Think there's more than 3 of them?"

Mabel shrugged, "There could be. Guess we won't know unless we find the 3rd one."

"I wonder what's in them… I mean this one talks about possible hiding places, maybe we can check em out next week."

"We should, I mean, if the amulets are real, then what about all this stuff? Demonic Caterpillars, Blood Rain, Cycloptopus," Mabel droned, flipping the pages as she listed the names, "I mean look at this one, Creature #326, it has a summoning page and everything."

"Huh, you're right. Think it's dangerous?"

"PSH I doubt whoever wrote this would give detailed instructions on summoning the thing if it was _dangerous_. I mean the amulets _can_ be dangerous, but not to us."

"Hmm...So he _could_ be dangerous but not to us since we summoned him? I dunno, seems a little farfetched to me."

"Well it doesn't matter unless we want to summon him anyway. We don't even know what he does." Mabel gasped, "What if he's a genie that can grant us wishes, Dipper! We should try it! I mean what's the worst that could happen?"

Dipper pondered her words momentarily before deciding, "Okay, but let's do some research first, there might be something online about him. You get the stuff for him and get it all set, and I'll see if I can find something online?"

"Roger dodger!" Mabel smiled with a salute before bounding off the couch to grab a notepad.

The online search wasn't a total bust, Dipper kept getting redirected to demonic sites filled with lore on everything but what he was looking for. One entry was always empty with no image or description, just the title, "Bill Cipher." So he continued his search from there, writing the name down just in case. He jotted down demon wards as well in the chance that it was definitely this Bill Cipher guy. He found other words in weird codes that he worked to unscramble but couldn't really, he wasn't sure what language it was but the symbols didn't match anything in the book at all.

Two hours later and Dipper showed Mabel the information- and lack of- that his search turned up. They discussed if they wanted to attempt it, with the chance it could be a demon. They finally decided why not, they had the wards and they had their amulets. So far, the journal had been nothing but helpful so they had no reason to doubt it's wisdom.

After drawing demon wards on their skin in blue pen, and spreading salt circles around them, the twins began chanting the incantation over the glitter and construction paper circle on their floor. The multi-colored birthday candles scattered at intervals of the symbol, held upright with play-doh, began to flicker. Mabel's head hurt briefly as they spoke but she ignored it, losing focus for only a second before continuing with her brother as if nothing had happened.

The candles flickered out, plunging them into darkness as the wind kicked up, blowing about their room and a little yellow triangle poofed into existence.

"Oh it's cute!" Mabel whispered to her brother.

"Oh, Oh OH, Gra- Where is this? This isn't Gravity Falls. I-uh-oh. Oh it's you two." The cyclopean creature said, it's eye landing on the twins. "I remember seeing you around briefly. Salt circle, you two are smarter than the last guy who called me haha."

"Wha-"

"So this is a nice place you got, kids." The triangle continued, "Needs a little redecorating in my opinion, but heheh what do I know, I'm only a 2 dimensional being in a multidimensional world!" He laughed, "It was a joke kiddo, I'm from a dimension with a lot more than 2! So what do you need from me?"

"Uhhh..." The twins looked to each other and back to him, "We don't know?" They muttered in unison.

"Come again?" This was a first.

"We weren't sure if you were real." One began.

"And we don't even know who you are, really, there's no information on you." The other continued.

"Are you some kind of genie who can grant wishes?"

"Or, are you a demon since you commented on the salt?"

This, this was definitely a first. "Firstly, a lot of creatures are affected by salt, not just demons. Secondly, I am kiiiind of like a genie. Yeah. Thirdly, the name's Bill Cipher, at your service." He took off his hat with a bow, "And the two of you kids are Dipper and Mabel Pines no doubt."

"Bill Cipher? So you _are_ a demon!"

"Bill Cipher? And here I thought your name was H̡̹̝̠̺̹̗̦̥͓̀͆̋̓͐̏̑̏ͣ̽ͨ́͜Aͦ͊͆̓͏̡̨͎̣̤̠̗̖̼̦̝̻̗͙̲̺͇̕͟ͅL̷̷̨̫͉̼͎̤̗̠ͥͬ͊̅͘E̷ͪ͆̇͒̊ͬ͛̚͏̺͕͓̫̰͓͙̱̮̻͕̪͉̥͙͍̥̻X̶͈̫̲͖ͫͫ͂͆̑̔ͫ͌͗̍ͮ̀͞͝͠͞Į̶̢̭̦̗̯̫͚̺̼̼͎̭̞̦̹́͐ͣͨ̓ͤ̒̄̾̓̈ͬ͋ͩ̃ͧ̽͐̚͝ͅŖ͕̳̦̪͙̪͉̥̪͍̟̠͚̫̯͔̰̍͑͌̅̋̅̍ͣ́̽͌̊͛̽̆͑̀̚͢͡S̨̗͕͓͇̖̗͆͑ͥͭ̊͂̒̃ͦ͑͑͌͋̊̚͢͝H͐ͤͩ̒̊̎͏͝͏̶̬̻̯̰̥̳͈̥̮͍̼̻̮C̤̭͕̮̬̰͉̤͖̒ͤ̌̌̓̎̅ͪͮ̌ͮ̓͋̅̕͡"

Without warning the triangle froze and a strong gust of wind blew out of nowhere eliminating the salt circle and blowing the kids up against the wall and leaving them pinned a foot above the ground. Each individual brick that made up the demon began shaking vigorously, getting worse by the millisecond.

"Mabel, what did you say!" Dipper tried to shout, his words incoherent in the wind. He grabbed her hand as a bolt of lightning struck out of nowhere and thunder cracked, their room flashing with light.

Suddenly everything stopped and the twins dropped to the floor in a daze, confused.

"Wha-what just happened..?" Mabel groaned as she looked to her brother's gaze, slowly each brick was flipping over one by one, yellow to blue. And as soon as it began it stopped, the monster's eye shutting slowly as it lowered itself to the floor.

The twins didn't dare move, they weren't sure what just happened but they were no longer protected by the ring of salt. Moments passed, and Bill's eye snapped open, looking around the room frantically before falling on Mabel.

"Yo-wha- H̶̠̝O͇̙W̲̝̺͚̺͖͠!" It's voice angry, eye popping red. "H͖O̴͎͎̭͖̲͍͢͟Ẁ̥͔̟͔̥͚̗̘͞ ̮̥̱D̮̦̲͎̣̦̫̗͘I̴͔̻͟D͉̣̘̩͕͙͓̟ ̶̧̪̜̞̗̝Y̵̨̝̣͠O͉̣̰͚̕͟U̯͈̝̜͕̠̞͠ ҉͉E̜̻̪͚V̨͉̳͎̩̤̀̕E̝̙̱R̦̜-̵̟͇͕͈̼̖̜́ ̶̵̳̀Ḩ̛̙̺̀O̡̯̞̕ͅW̛͏͎͚͍̣ ̵̦̰D̯͈Í͠҉̜͙͇D̶̢̲̥̖̠͕̼̪͡ ̕͏̪̘̝̪̦̼͍͍Y̴͖O̟͖̜͚͔̯̯̗͘U͎͔̥̙̱͈̬̙̕͡ ̘̺̦̼̭̀K͏҉͚̯̼͙̻N̵̢̙̩̻O͈͚̦͕̭̣̼W̛̬͇̱-̥̹͠͡" He launched himself at them, bursting into flames as he did, but he only got so far. The second he was about to touch them, the flames traced over the twins' outlines and dispersed, "N͉̩̳̫͈O͔͔̹̤͖̙͟͞ ̩̥͈͖̮̀ͅN̷̯͉̘̙̫̘̻͈̕͝ͅO̡̞̲̼̭̼̠̯̜ ͏̛̛̹͚͕͉̳̜̥N̡̥ͅO̷̟̤̗͇̼ ̮͠͞ͅN̢̝͎̪O̫̤͙͕̫̺ ͏̠̼̗̕ _ **N̐̂͊ͬ̑ͩ̋̿ͧͮ̏ͬ͒ͮ̂͛̇͏̫̩̤̤Ŏ̢̩̟̼̳̤͈̠̫̫̪ͬͣͣͭ̕**_!"

The twins shivered at the display, Mabel feeling warm but not hot, and Dipper feeling the harsh heat the further he was from Mabel.

The triangle sneered and attempted to calm itself, "H̶̠̝O͇̙W̲̝̺͚̺͖͠ ḑi̛d you- _where_ did you hear that name?" It crossed it's legs in the air, resting it's hands on it's knee, still clearly agitated.

The twins didn't speak, just sat there in fear staring at the demon they'd called.

The triangle sighed in annoyance, putting on a totally calm face, "C'mon, kid I ain't got all day. This is really important. Where did you hear that?"

Dipper looked to his sister confused and pulled her to stand with him. "H-hear what?" He asked

Bill rolled his eye, "That name, the one your sister said. Where did she hear it?" The twins remained silent and the demon slapped itself in the face, "Look, I'll give you a 'get out of jail free-card' if you just tell me. Anything you want, no charge. I just- _need to know_."

The twins looked to each other thinking it over, Dipper trying to figure out what was going on. Bill kept going on about a name, and Mabel said she thought his name wasn't Bill Cipher.

He shakily pulled his scrap of notes on demons out of his back pocket and flipped through them frantically, finding the one he was looking for on a sticky note and showing his sister.

 _Names are incredibly powerful things. Utter the name of a demon in it's presence and it is under your complete control. It cannot harm you._

"Mabel what did you say." He whispered, looking up to Bill for a split second who was waiting -somewhat- patiently. His sister whispered the name in his ear and he nodded, running over the pronunciation in his head over and over and asking his sister to repeat it so he was sure he'd gotten it.

"You-," Dipper paused clearing his throat before speaking louder, "You mean H̡̹̝̠̺̹̗̦̥͓̀͆̋̓͐̏̑̏ͣ̽ͨ́͜Aͦ͊͆̓͏̡̨͎̣̤̠̗̖̼̦̝̻̗͙̲̺͇̕͟ͅL̷̷̨̫͉̼͎̤̗̠ͥͬ͊̅͘E̷ͪ͆̇͒̊ͬ͛̚͏̺͕͓̫̰͓͙̱̮̻͕̪͉̥͙͍̥̻X̶͈̫̲͖ͫͫ͂͆̑̔ͫ͌͗̍ͮ̀͞͝͠͞Į̶̢̭̦̗̯̫͚̺̼̼͎̭̞̦̹́͐ͣͨ̓ͤ̒̄̾̓̈ͬ͋ͩ̃ͧ̽͐̚͝ͅŖ͕̳̦̪͙̪͉̥̪͍̟̠͚̫̯͔̰̍͑͌̅̋̅̍ͣ́̽͌̊͛̽̆͑̀̚͢͡S̨̗͕͓͇̖̗͆͑ͥͭ̊͂̒̃ͦ͑͑͌͋̊̚͢͝H͐ͤͩ̒̊̎͏͝͏̶̬̻̯̰̥̳͈̥̮͍̼̻̮C̤̭͕̮̬̰͉̤͖̒ͤ̌̌̓̎̅ͪͮ̌ͮ̓͋̅̕͡?"

The demon visibly shuddered and gritted out, "Yes. _That_. One."

Dipper nodded to his sister, curious himself, and they both stepped forward. "I-I, i just heard it." She said with a shaky voice, "When we were chanting, my head hurt and I heard it."

They sat there in silence, nobody moving as Bill processed what had just transpired. A child. Heard his true name. Out of the blue. "I-I don't understand," He muttered, "You just-heard it?" Mabel nodded. "There's no way. No way you just heard it. That isn't something you just _hear_." He could tell the child wasn't lying though- those are things he could tell automatically, she _had_ just heard the name uttered- _somehow_ -.

"That's _your_ name, isn't it?" Dipper asked, bursting Bill out of his thoughts. Bill nodded reluctantly, "So you can't hurt us then, right?" His eye narrowed, but he nodded slightly.

Dipper relaxed slightly, "In that case, could you clean this up? You made a mess."

Bill growled, " _ **What**_."

"Look, we can sit here and be wary of each other forever, or we can figure this out. If you clean up the mess you made we'll offer you helpful information and maybe you can come to a conclusion. If not, we'll leave you in the dark and you can figure out how this happened yourself as the curiosity eats you away. You can't hurt us either way now, so it's up to you whether you want our help or not."

Bill weighed his options, and the boy hadn't been unreasonable. It was a fair deal. He just simply hated _fair_ deals. Not that there was much he could do. However it happened they knew his true name, and unless they chose not to use his name he'd be stuck doing their bidding for eternity. He might as well play nice, they were children after all, how bad could this be? "Fine."

The next several days when their parents weren't home, the three of them researched true names and the such, one evening Mabel's head began to ache again, briefly, and she told Dipper and Bill that their mother was coming home early and they needed to clean up. With a shrug, they listened, just in case. Dipper knowing full well that Mabel had saved them before with her random guess, and Bill, sure he'd felt an odd jolt of energy come from the girl when she had her headache.

Sure enough, no sooner had Bill vanished from sight did they hear a car door slam outside and their mother jingling the keys to the front door.

The next day the twins told Bill about the amulets and the last time Mabel had predicted something and he understood.

"Oh, stupid!" He cried, clapping a hand to his forehead, "Kid, you got powers of premonition! It's one of the effects of those amulets you got there. And before you ask how I know that, I helped write that book."

"Wait, you wrote this book?" Dipper asked

Bill nodded, "Helped. I-"

"So you know everything about these amulets, then?"

Bill nodded again, "Pretty much, it's-"

"So you can give us a rundown of what these are capable of, then."

"Kid, will you quit interrupting me? And 'course I can, I'm an all powerful dream demon, if I couldn't tell you a simple thing like that I'd have no credibility. _However_ , I _am_ an all powerful dream demon, ya gotta do something for me."

"Something like what?" Mabel asked, curious what a demon's trade was like.

"Well, being a small thing like this, a… puppet, you sure has a lot of em, Shooting Star."

"What about your name?" Dipper asked and Bill made a face. "A puppet seems too straight forward." Mabel nodded in agreement, "There's an ulterior motive here, we can tell. We've been dealing with this type of stuff for a long time."

Mabel continued, "It's the same game. All you did was raise the stakes."

Bill's eye glowered, "Yeah well, you asked what it'll cost and I told ya. A puppet."

"And we don't think that's a fair deal." Dipper repeated.

"Demons are all about possession, what makes you any different? If you want a person to possess, you gotta up the ante on your side of the table too."

Dipper gave his sister a grin, "Nice poker puns, sis," Mabel sent him an identical grin and thanked him, before they both looked back to Bill, "So...we also want everything you know about true names."

" **What!** " Bill shouted, "No. N. O. There is no deal. I ain't crazy, kid. Insane, sure. Crazy? Uh-uh."

Mabel and Dipper looked to each other and Dipper rubbed his chin in thought, "Mabel, how do you pronounce it again? H҉̢̕al͏͘-?"

"H̀al͏̀͞e̶̢͢xi̛͡͞r̵͟s̡͜͞ḩ͞c." Bill physically cringed.

"H̷͝a̴l̢͢e̶҉xi҉́́r͜҉s̶̀͡ḩ̵c͜." Dipper repeated.

"H̸͡a̵̕l̷͝e̸̢x̀i͏͏͘rs͢h̨̡̡c̴." Mabel affirmed.

"You know, every time we've said his name we've said it calmly. I wonder what happens if we say it louder or when with a different emotion..?"

"É̸́͜͠Ǹ̵̛͟͜O҉̢̀Ų̸̛͜͝G̷̀͘͝͞H̸̨̧͞." Bill shouted, his sclera tinted red, body dripping with sweat, the demon looked exhausted, "Please. No more. I'll-I'll tell you about what you're capable of with those amulets." He caved, "But I will _not_ tell you about true names."

The twins looked at each other before holding their hands out with a smile, "Deal."

The trip to Gravity Falls didn't come soon enough in Bill's eyes. Finally he could keep a better eye on the twins through all his iconography littered throughout the town. He'd only dredged up any information on them based off their last stay and one or two dollar bills that happened to pass through their hands in Piedmont. He was lucky his name had fallen into the hands of children, if it was a greedy adult or a politician he'd have his work cut out for him, but they came to the agreement that he fills them in on what information they want and they won't say his name. Which wasn't much a bad deal considering the small questions they inquired about. Mostly how to use their gems and about other items and things they could get their hands on.

He wouldn't quite call them power-hungry, but they were well on their way. It helped that they were after the same thing he was, the 3rd journal. Once they had them both, he'd destroy them and continue on his with plan while they did whatever the hell they wanted. It wasn't like he could really interfere while they still knew his true name. There were tricky rules surrounding names and there were only a few resources he could employ to get them to forget it.

When the end of summer came, the twins didn't want to leave, they had their magic almost perfected, they had a name, an act, they pleaded with their parents to stay, they'd be away from the bullying, they have no negative experiences in Gravity Falls and they get along better with Stan than anyone. Soon enough their parents relented to their near constant begging, and allowed them to stay with their Grunkle and transfer to the school there.

Soon they had their own tent established and a popular reputation throughout the school, they became more confident, cocky, and intimidating.

And unfortunately for Bill, they were much more cunning than he thought.


End file.
